Hotel Cavaliere

I do not usually write reviews but feel compelled to write one about this wonderful hotel, having just returned home from a two-week stay there. First of all, Noci is a perfect base for a holiday in the beautiful region of Puglia. While it is certainly easiest to have a car to get around, it is possible to do so (as we did) by public transport (train and bus) and transfer cars (there are surprisingly no taxis in the town). The hotel is right in the heart of the beautiful town which has a choice of wonderful restaurants, cafés and bars within easy walking distance and some shops and lovely old streets to happily lose yourself in for a few hours. Noci feels a really authentic and special experience of life in a small southern Italian town: by day, the town is fairly quiet and certainly unspoilt by tourists and by night, Noci is lively with locals out for a meal, a walk, passing by the hours with friends on a bench in the central piazza, having a delicious gelato or stopping to listen to one of the many free concerts in the piazza or park. The hotel is almost next door to a great pizzeria, full of locals, which has been there for fifty years, and is a few doors away from an amazing gelateria with an array of delicious flavours (and friendly staff) and a lovely deli. There is park across the road and a church at the end of the road. We managed to fit in memorable day trips to 12 other towns in Puglia, all of which had their own unique charm. The hotel itself is lovely - the rooms are clean and spacious and the breakfast was great (a good selection of pastries and cakes, breads, eggs, a selection of cold meats and cheese, yoghurts and some lovely fresh fruit). What I most wanted to write about though were all the staff at the hotel who went over and above to make our holiday so special. A massive thank you to all of you for the many little touches you added throughout our stay with you and for always being so kind and friendly: Giuseppe in the breakfast room was always kind and perceptive and kept the water for our tea piping hot and always put a special plate of fresh fruit (delicious apricots) on our table each morning as he knew we loved them! Sonia cleaned our rooms beautifully every day and always had a lovely smile for us. Flavia and Francesca went the extra mile, finding detailed bus and train routes for us and organising transfers so that we could see all the beautiful sights in Puglia and made us feel as though it wasn’t any trouble, even though I am sure it must have involved lots of work. The lovely man on duty at night was always friendly too. And saving the best for last, the wonderful Giovanna who is in charge of the hotel. What can we say?! We travel a lot around the world but no one has ever gone to so much trouble for us as Giovanna - what an incredible leader of a brilliant team. She took customer service to a whole new level - some small examples and I know there are many more, she made it possible for us to have the most incredible Sunday lunch at a wonderful masseria (what an experience!) when we wanted a special family meal; she recommended some amazing places for us to visit; when we wanted to watch the football on the TV in the lobby, she set up a special table so we could have a pizza dinner; she allowed us to play cards in the breakfast room at night and again set up a table for us; on one particularly hot night when the air conditioning in one of our rooms stopped working, she made herself available at nearly midnight to ensure we could change rooms immediately. We really can’t thank the staff enough for their kindness, hospitality and making our holiday so very memorable and I would highly recommend a visit to Noci, staying at this excellent hotel.